I want to protect you and your loved ones from becoming victims of crimes by the catholic church and all abusers of human beings. I want to give survivors of sexual and physical abuse a voice to be heard all over the world. All abuse of children and adults by religious groups and by any organization or individual must be stopped. We can add our voices to a growing, worldwide community of people who want truth and justice. Please share your experiences with me and others on this blog.

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Monday, August 25, 2014

For
the first time, according to the New York Times, a top Vatican ambassador — a
personal envoy of the pope — has been accused of sexual abuse of minors.

Sneaking
around Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in black track pants and a baseball
cap, he would walk along the oceanfront promenade where poor shoeshine boys
worked and lure them down to the rocky shoreline or to a deserted monument for
a local Catholic hero. The boys say he gave them money to perform sexual acts.

They
never knew his identity until his picture was front page local news and after
he was suddenly recalled to Rome: Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, the Vatican’s
ambassador to the Dominican Republic.

Before
the Vatican shipped him out, a local video crew got a tip about the stealthy
molester and went to film him – he then disappeared from the waterfront. According to Dominican law enforcement
authorities Wesolowski began sending a young Dominican church deacon to procure
children for him.

The
deacon, Francisco Javier Occi Reyes, was arrested by the police on June 24,
2013, accused of solicitation of minors, and jailed. Although Reyes wrote to Wesolowski
he was ignored and left in jail. In his
letter Reyes said, “We have offended God” and the church by sexually abusing children
and adolescents “for crumbs of money.”

We
all remember the recent claims of Pope Francis, who called child sexual abuse
“such an ugly crime” and pledged to move the Roman Catholic Church into an era
of “zero tolerance.” For priests and bishops who have violated children, he
told reporters in May, “There are no privileges.”

Was
he punished? Wesolowski received “the
harshest penalty possible under the church’s canon law short of
excommunication: he was defrocked by the Vatican. What terrible punishment for him! How does
that help the abused children? What justice do they get? The Vatican says that
it intends to try Wesolowski on criminal charges — we know what a great job
they do policing themselves. What about criminal prosecution in a real court of
law like any other criminal? What about sending him back for a jail sentence in
the Dominican Republic?

It
didn’t happen because the church, acting against its own guidelines for handling
abuse cases, failed to inform the local authorities of the evidence against
him, secretly recalled him to Rome before he could be investigated, and then
invoked diplomatic immunity for Wesolowski so he could not face trial in the
Dominican Republic. Diplomatic immunity ensures that diplomats like the serial
pedophile Wesolowski cannot be sued or prosecuted in the country where they
committed crimes and are given safe passage back home. This is a failure of
justice for the sexually abused children.

Has
the church changed? Is there still a
culture of accepted and covered up child abuse? Where are the authorities? The United Nations recently condemned the
Vatican’s behavior in handling child sex abuse cases – will they say
something? If the Roman Catholic Church
is serious about dealing with child sexual abuse they need to revoke Wesolowski’s
diplomatic immunity, return him to Dominican Republic, and give authorities the
evidence to convict him. We don’t know if Vatican representatives are
committing the same crimes against children in other countries, but their
failure to turn over Wesolowski to local authorities ensures that such crimes
will be repeated over and over while pope francis ensures us how much he cares
about the children.

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About Me

When I was three and a half years old, I and my five year
old brother Frankie were raped by a catholic priest and put in St. Agnes Home and School in Sparkill, NY. I was beaten every day and then smothered by a catholic
nun. I didn't die but I was in a coma for almost year, leaving me brain damaged. After we got out, my
brother killed himself because he couldn't help me or accept the abuse we received. I want everyone to know
about the brutality and crime then and still going on in the catholic church. I want to stop
the crimes the church commits against our children and us and get justice for the victims. Give me your ideas
so that we all succeed in making this world safer for our children.